Instructor Elizabeth Hirsh, left, helps students process the fake "grave" where remains of a fictional murder[2] victim were found.

It started with the disappearance of a young woman and her abusive boyfriend. Blood stains and a bullet casing added to the storyline.

Gradually, the plot evolved into a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary academic exercise at the Community College of Aurora. Coordinated by Elizabeth Hirsh, who heads the anthropology department, the project was chronicled[3] in the March 25 edition of The Denver[4] Post. But that was before the evidence pointing to the death of imaginary victim Sarah Hopewell had been analyzed, before a suspect had been charged with her murder and brought to trial.

Last Saturday, Hopewell’s boyfriend faced the prosecution before a judge — Leroy A. Simmons, the retired judge who famously presided over the Erin Brockovich case (and played himself in the movie) — and a jury. In a three-hour mock trial facilitated by members of CCA’s drama club playing characters from the story, the defendant was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of several lesser crimes such as tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

“The judge ended by saying the defendant would be remanded to custody,” said Hirsh. “The theater student looked terrified.”

There was no “right answer” to the investigation, notes Hirsh, who concocted the tale with the help of instructors from other departments.

“In a real trial, you don’t know the reality of what happened,” she said. “We didn’t want students to feel there was a wrong or right choice. But secretly, in the back of our minds, they came to a conclusion that was kind of intended in how we mapped out what happened. They didn’t think evidence suggested he murdered her.”

The exercise contained what Hirsh calls “a lot of moving parts.” The departments participated to varying degrees, from a single day of instruction to a semester-long involvement, but the result was better than the instructors could have hoped. Student surveys so far have come back overwhelmingly positive about the experience and individual comments have echoed that assessment.

“Sometimes there’s a cynicism in education[5], the sense that you don’t get a lot of ‘thank yous,'” Hirsh said. “So when students are going out of their way to convey gratitude, you’ve done something right.”

And already, there has been talk of how even more classes can be involved in the next murder mystery.

“This isn’t a one-off sort of event,” Hirsh said. “We’re going to do this every year. The psychology department wants to involve a criminal profile analyzing what’s clinically wrong with the suspect. The computer department has started a forensic computer class, and they want to be involved. We’re more than willing to expand the sandbox and keep playing.”

Hirsh already has submitted a grant proposal aimed to assist state community college programs that employ more interactive learning projects — funding that could help plan a five-year rotation of scenarios. But whether that comes through or not, the project will continue.

“We’re going to have some interesting crimes happening on the CCA campus,” she said.